Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to measuring an analyte in a medium of a living animal using a system including a transceiver and a sensor. Specifically, the present invention relates to a co-planar, near field communication telemetry link between the transceiver and the sensor capable of transcutaneous communication.
Discussion of the Background
A sensor may be implanted within a living animal (e.g., a human) used to measure an analyte (e.g., glucose or oxygen) in a medium (e.g., interstitial fluid (ISF), blood, or intraperitoneal fluid) within the living animal. The sensor may include a light source (e.g., a light-emitting diode (LED) or other light emitting element), indicator molecules, and a photodetector (e.g., a photodiode, phototransistor, photoresistor or other photosensitive element). Examples of implantable sensors employing indicator molecules to measure an analyte are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,517,313 and 5,512,246, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
There is presently a need in the art for an improved inductive magnetic link for both powering and communicating with an analyte sensor.